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Digital Top Stories
Lib Dems to amend amendment as DEB heads for final Lords vote
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 15 March 2010
As the Digital Economy Bill heads to the House Of Lords for its third reading today, the amendment to the controversial Clause 17, the just as controversial Amendment 120A, is likely to be amended. Which is fun.
Clause 17 was the provision within the copyright section of the DEB that would give future ministers the power to introduce new anti-piracy systems without going through the full parliamentary process. Amendment 120A removes that provision, but instead gives the High Court the right to shut down (and force ISPs to block access to) websites that prolifically infringe copyrights.
It is widely believed that record label trade body the BPI initially supported Clause 17 because they saw it as a way to get the proposals set out in Amendment 120A put into law after the Bill had been passed by parliament. With Clause 17 obviously likely to be cut for the Bill, the BPI threw the more specific Amendment 120A into the mix and the Lib Dems formally proposed it. The BPI want to ensure the new copyright rules introduced deal with more than just P2P file-sharing.
But Amendment 120A has caused just as much outrage from the anti-DEB brigade, who claim the High Court injunction system would be misused, and could be utilised by content owners against the likes of Google and YouTube. That seems really rather unlikely, but concern in the web community was enough to persuade the major web firms to join the internet service providers in formally opposing the amendment in a letter in the Financial Times last week.
Responding to that opposition, the Lib Dems are planning to amend the amendment. In particular, they plan to put increased liability for the legal costs of applying for a shut-down injunction on the content owners, so that said companies don’t start applying for High Court orders on whim. The tweaked provision will also clarify how accused websites can appeal, and obligates content owners to alert website operators of their intent to apply for an injunction, and to provide a list of all infringed copyrights, before going to court.
According to a confidential BPI update on its lobbying activity intended for the trade body’s members, which was leaked on the internet this weekend, it’s not only web giants, ISPs and Stephen Fry who are opposed to Amendment 120A. Apparently MI5 are as well, though quite why isn’t clear. Given the scale of the opposition, even some political types who generally support the copyright section of the DEB reckon the shut-down injunctions provision will have to be dropped in order to get the rest of the proposed legislation through parliament before the looming deadline of the General Election.
Speculation remains as to whether or not any of the Bill will make it onto the statute book before parliament is dissolved for the latest series of ‘Politician Idol’. Assuming it gets through the Lords this week it will then progress to the House Of Commons. The aforementioned leaked BPI email is quite positive about the chances of the Bill slipping through the Commons on the nod, with the trade body reporting that opposition to the new copyright laws among MPs is isolated, and many Members accept that, given the looming deadline, the legislation will have to be voted on with relatively little debate.
So much so, the BPI email reports that meetings have already occurred between them, the Music Publishers Association and ISPs Sky and Virgin, on how the three-strikes system the DEB will make law might work on a practical basis. Consumer rights group Which? – who have said they believe a well run three-strikes system for combating file-sharing is better than the current system where file-sharers in theory face direct infringement litigation – are also said to be inputting on these discussions.
But, with opposition outside parliament still pretty damn vocal, and many of the groups opposing the DEB calling on their supporters to start bugging their election-sensitive MPs on this issue, some reckon there may be more shenanigans to be had in the House Of Commons on these proposals than some lobbyists currently expect. And while Sky and Virgin maybe willing to start considering how three-strikes will work already, as content owners themselves they’ve always been the more friendly ISPs on this issue. TalkTalk, for one, will continue to fight this until the final parliamentary vote is cast.
And, probably, beyond, because even if the DEB and three-strikes become law, TalkTalk are expected to hinder the new copyright system at every possible opportunity. Proving they still see this as a fight worth fighting, TalkTalk published research on Friday which claimed that 80% of 18-34 year olds who currently file-share said they would continue to do so even if three-strikes becomes law, and that they would circumvent the new net suspension system by using the various software systems out there will hide a user’s online activity.
The ISP’s Director Of Strategy, Regulation & Record Company Baiting Andrew Heaney told reporters: “Whatever measures are taken it will have little impact on the music industry’s coffers but will leave in its wake innocent customers disconnected from the internet”.
